Khaos
by KnightlyWordsmith
Summary: Among the best the military has to offer, Agent Arizona is above average at best, yet stubborn to a fault she is determined to prove that she can be better. When her efforts are rewarded with the implantation of the AI Kappa, the Alpha's compassion, she begins the struggle to stay herself while her artificial conscience is telling her that all she stands for is wrong.
1. Prologue

**A/N- **I had started posting this story about a year ago but I took it down when I realized how much work it really needed. Now that my writing has improved, and I believe I'm better at character and plot development I finally feel ready to start posting it again.

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**Prologue**

Agent Arizona surveyed the base critically from her crouched position on the stony ridge. Below the base teemed with sentries patrolling along the walls, assured that not a thing could get past them and gather their secrets. They were always like this. Prepped and prepared, delusional in thinking that they were safe.

Pushing back from the edge of the ridge Arizona stood up to leave. Her heart began pounding in her chest in anticipation of the mission before her. There was a time when she was naive enough to worry that her thumping heart would give her away as she stole past guards. As missions passed by she soon realized it was just from nervous excitement for what lay ahead and no risk at all to her mission.

Slinging her shotgun over her back, she began the perilous decent down the ridge. She was careful to stay out of the sight line of the base, as well as to avoid any loose rock that could tumble down the cliff face and alert others to her position.

Once on the ground it was a short sprint from the base of the ridge to the wall of the base. Lifting her eyes to walls above she watched the round of sentries as they went along their route. She waited as one passed, then another, timing everything just right. As the last went by she left her hiding spot and flew across the ground as fast as she could.

Throwing all her momentum behind her she jumped at the wall, caught a handhold that was little more than a groove in the smooth stone and scaled up the few remaining feet until her hands grasped the edge of the wall.

Quick as lightning she sprung herself up onto the walkway atop the wall, and as she had planned landed in front of an unsuspecting sentry.

Before he could even think to raise an alarm, she shot forward, grasped his helmet and twisted until she heard the satisfying crunch of his spinal cord snapping.

She dragged the limp body with her into the shadows of the inner wall. Stealing his pass key from the ring at his side she opened the door to enter the main of the base, storing the body inside so that his fellow guardsmen wouldn't happen across it during their rounds.

Once inside the base she reviewed the mental map she had drilled into her mind of the layout of the base and set off down the bleak hallway. Doors barred with heavy steel and opened only by pass keys like the one she now held lined the way but she ignored them all. Her objective was deeper in the base and would need more than a pass key stolen from a guard to unlock.

Stealing down the hall, Arizona stopped at each corner and fork, listening for any sound that would herald the approach of an unwanted visitor, but the only sounds that met her ears were that of her hushed breathing, and her heart which still hammered against her breastbone.

When only a final corner stood between her and the objective Arizona stopped to collect herself. She pulled her shotgun from over her back, ensuring it was loaded and ready. She took a steadying breath to calm herself, and her heart, which had increased its tempo tenfold in anticipation of how close she was. It did no good, she was too keyed up with adrenaline.

Hoisting her shotgun to the ready position she swung around the corner ready to complete her mission.

A huge steel door, laced with wiring and electronics to keep its secrets hidden stood at the end of a long hallway. It was her final objective. Between Arizona and the door stood twelve soldiers, two abreast, arms at the ready.

At the sight of her all twelve raised their weapons, prepared to defend the door and its secrets at all costs.

A savage grin, hidden behind her face shield split across Arizona's face. _This_ was what she was here for. Stealing secrets for Command was one thing, but a good fight, now that was what she had been looking for.

Racing down the hall at a breakneck pace, she dodged the first round of bullets fired at her, a spare round glancing harmlessly off of the thick metal armoring her shoulder.

She leaped into the air, catching the first soldier with a blow from her foot that exploded his helmet and sent him sprawling into the soldier behind him. At the same time she whipped her shotgun around and fired a round into the chest of his partner.

Her leap sent her flying toward the wall, but rather than bounce off it uselessly, she maneuvered herself into a crouching position, and used her legs to propel herself off of the wall. She got off another round of her shotgun, before ducking into a ball to evade another spray of bullets.

She rolled into the midst of the rows of soldiers. Springing back to her feet she sent out a flurry of punches and kicks.

Her adrenaline was running higher than ever. She was drunk on fighting, on the thrill of overpowering opponents. She cracked the butt of her shotgun into the face of one soldier before shooting another in the knee who cried out in agony before falling behind his comrades.

She kept her feet moving, warding off any would be attackers, and finishing them off as easy as if she were swatting away flies.

It had been so long since she'd been able to let go all restraints and attack with savage fury, mindless of the lives she was destroying, obeying without questions the orders from Command to take out anyone who opposed her, and she relished the sense of freedom.

Finally only one remained, the one she had wounded in the knee. Though she couldn't see his face, his ragged, clipped breathing was all the indication she needed to know of the fear he was feeling.

Slowly and deliberately she walked toward him. She reloaded the shotgun. The metallic clicks as everything fell into place made a morbid kind of music. She raised the shotgun to his face, holding it there for a moment as she heard his ragged breathing break into fearful sobs.

_"No! Stop that!"_

The words ripped through her senses and jolted her into wakefulness.

She sat up to a dark room, the sobbing soldier and the carnage around him gone, a dream and nothing more. She could still hear the screaming though. It wasn't audible to her ears, but instead rang through her skull.

_"How could you Katelyn? Didn't you realize what you were doing?"_

Arizona wiped her hair back from her brow to find it slick with sweat. Her heart was pounding harder than it had all through the fighting in her dream, but how could it have been a dream? It felt so real, so right to fight again without this insistent voice telling her it was wrong.

Still it didn't stop.

_"Katelyn, are you even listening to me? How could you do that to them? You didn't even feel bad that you were hurting them, _killing _them even."_

"It was just a dream Kappa, no one was actually hurt," Arizona replied, not even trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

The AI persisted. _"But you were enjoying it weren't you?" _Kappa asked accusatorially.

"Yes Kappa, I was enjoying it!" Arizona replied angrily. "I was enjoying fighting. Enjoying what it was like to have my thoughts to myself. Enjoying the ability to do what I was trained to do without feeling bad for every bruise I dealt out. I was enjoying what it was like before you."


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N-**

To avoid any possible confusion I should say now that the prologue was set a little farther on in the future of this story. The following few chapters will work up to it.

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**Chapter 1**

Arizona stared up at the wall before her.

The wall climbed straight up for a good fifty feet before slanting forward at a 45° angle where it merged seamlessly with the ceiling. Rather than be made of the same smooth steel as the rest of the walls of the training facility it was pockmarked with grooves and protrusions

She thought of this climbing wall much like she thought of the rankings of the different agents.

Gripping a ledge just above her head with her right hand while simultaneously stepping her left foot into a groove she began her ascent of the wall.

The lower reaches of the wall were easy to climb, just as the lower ranks of the agents were easy to pass. The handholds were good, with plenty of choice spots to place her feet. The grips were close together as well, so she always knew she would find another near at hand.

As she got higher and higher it got more difficult. The ledges were smaller, and further apart, forcing her to think carefully before choosing each handhold. The grooves were also shallower, meaning she had to balance just right on her toes to stay on the wall. She had to think and concentrate to ensure she made no misstep that would send her tumbling down to the ground.

Despite the increased difficulty it was still no problem for her. This was her zone. She'd been climbing up trees since she was three, and managing her way onto the roof of her family home since she was seven. As long as there was a handhold above her she'd always find a way to position her weight, or twist her body to get to it.

Foot after foot she climbed, just as she passed spot after spot in the rankings.

But the last ten feet of the wall, like the last twenty ranking spots were impossible for her to ascend. At that point the wall was smooth like the others in the room. Without the slightest groove, or tiniest outcropping she had no hope of reaching the top.

And so, she sat balanced forty feet in the air, at the highest reaches of the wall where it was meant to be climbed, yet with ten feet of wall above her. Just as her name sat 21st in the rankings, unable to reach those higher spots.

"Oy! Arizona!" A voice broke into her concentration.

Arizona turned her head towards the ground to see that Agent Montana had entered the training room. "Quit playing Tarzan and get down here! We're being called for a mission debriefing."

Arizona rolled her eyes at him, but complied. Retracing her path she made quick work descending the wall. Once her feet were on solid ground she walked up to Montana. "What's going on? What's our mission?"

"Don't know, that's why we're getting debriefed," Montana replied in a teasing tone. He emphasized the last word by tapping lightly on the middle of her visor, causing her to swat at him like an irritating fly.

Montana was six feet and a couple hundred pounds of pure annoying.

"Let's just go, we don't want to be late," Arizona said, shouldering her way past him and heading toward the exit of the training room.

"Ah, what's the rush?" Montana drawled, following her, but at a considerably more leisurely pace. "You know how these thing go. Three or four of us are called in. We listen to some sergeant or lieutenant drone on and on until everyone's half asleep. We're told about some base, with some objective in it, usually a flag, and then they set us loose on some sim troopers. Boring as hell."

Arizona shook her head, and quickened her pace slightly, worried about arriving late. "If you don't like it, why are you part of the program?"

"The food mostly," he replied in a tone that had Arizona not been aware of how utterly bland their food was she wouldn't have been able to tell if he was joking or serious.

Montana caught up to her and swung a lazy arm over her shoulder. "So how was the climb?" He asked in a falsely conversational tone. Arizona knew that there was a lopsided grin hidden behind his visor. "Did it gain the attention of the Director? Were you moved up ten spots because you beat your record again?"

"I don't do it to gain attention, or improve my ranking," she replied sourly, grated by his comment. She flung his arm off her shoulders and took a deliberate step to the left to put some space between them.

Just because climbing happened to provide the perfect metaphor for how she _wanted_ her ranking to improve, didn't mean that it was a means to that end.

"Then why do it? Most people do training exercises to work on something that needs improving. I mean why waste your time when could be working on something you actually need work on?" He asked with a shrug.

Arizona was pretty sure there was a compliment mixed in there somewhere, but she wasn't going to take the time to find it. She turned her head back to him to reply. "If you really must know I happen to enjoy it. It clears my head and gives me time away from people I find irritating." She finished pointedly, hoping he'd take her hint and stop talking.

Of course Montana wouldn't give her the satisfaction of silence. "You wouldn't be talking about sweet, little, old me now would you?" Feigning innocence, he pressed a hand to his breastplate as if in shock.

"You're impossible," she shook her head.

"And you're too easy to irritate." She didn't even find that worthy of a response. Hunching her shoulders she walked on, deliberately keeping her face forward.

Her silence seemed to be catching and the remainder of their trip down the hall was short and thankfully quiet, with the only noise being that of their metal boots clanking on the steel floor.

Arriving at their destination Arizona saw that there were three agents milling aimlessly around a large table in the center of the dimly lit room. What little light there was came from a holoprojector inlaid on the surface of the table, and the imposing board which took up an entire wall.

Ignoring the glowing rankings of the top eight Freelancers, Arizona caught sight of Kentucky in the far corner, her tan and green helmet tucked under her. Arizona headed over to her with Montana still trailing in her wake.

Kentucky's freckled face broke into a grin as she saw them approaching. "Nice, to see y'all finally made it," she said, her voice accented by a faint western twang.

"Blame him," Arizona replied, jerking a thumb in Montana's direction. "Didn't bother to tell me until just a few minutes ago."

"Oh trust me, I know whose fault it is," Kentucky replied. "You're too paranoid to get anywhere late if you can help it. It had to be someone else's fault and surprise, surprise at whose it was."

"Well howdy Ken, nice to see you too," Montana greeted her with a tip of an imaginary hat, greatly exaggerating Kentucky's accent. "I don't know what we'd do without the cavalry here for our mission."

"Aw shucks Montana, didn't ya hear? They wouldn't let me take my horses on board," Kentucky replied, letting her accent ooze into her voice to match Montana.

While Arizona usually did her best to ignore Montana's foolishness, Kentucky played right along. The frizzy haired red-head was probably the nicest person Arizona knew

Arizona listened with half an ear as her two companions bantered away, focusing the rest of her attention on surveying the others in the room.

Their fellow occupants were the agents Illinois and Michigan. She didn't know either of them very well, but had been in a few training exercises with Illinois and knew she was lethal in close quarters. She had heard that Michigan was bit of a bookworm but she could never recall actually speaking with him. How well he knew his way around a battlefield she would have to determine in time.

There was a snap and a hiss as the door slid open again. Arizona snapped to attention, expecting it to be the officer who would brief them on their coming mission.

Instead a purple clad soldier stormed in, stopping short as they surveyed the room. "What the hell? What did I do to get stuck with this crap?"

Agent South Dakota, resident malcontent of the Mother of Invention.

"Do you have qualifications with waste disposal perhaps?" Montana asked. Arizona had to wonder again at how he kept his voice so serious when he said such things.

The sound South made proved that she was unimpressed with his attempt at humour.

"Not to insult you but I'm usually put a little above you freeloaders." South jutted her head toward the glowing board that was impossible to miss. Her name glowed at number five. With a derisive snort she claimed the opposite corner of the room and slouched against the wall.

Turning to Arizona and Kentucky, Montana mused cheerily, "I believe she was lying to us there. I'm pretty sure she meant that exactly as an insult."

"Surprise, surprise, he's not as dumb as he looks," South called snidely from her position across the room.

"Pleasant, isn't she?" Montana commented, eliciting a rude hand gesture from South. "Like a basket full of roses, minus the roses."

Kentucky slapped him lightly on the arm. "Don't say things like that when she's in the room. You can be so insensitive sometimes."

"What's insensitive about what I just said? I called her a basket. There's really nothing unpleasant about that," Montana protested, rubbing his arm where she hit it. Not that he really could have felt any of it through his layers of armour. "Maybe a basket full of snakes is more accurate?"

Kentucky swatted him again, harder this time. As she continued to chastise him Arizona found herself agreeing with Montana's assessment, even if he was showing little tact in voicing it out loud.

South's voice had been venomous like a snake. Arizona felt an uneasy stirring her gut. That was not the kind of attitude you wanted from someone you were soon set to be going on a potentially dangerous mission with. Montana's banter wasn't helping matters either.

At the same time though Arizona couldn't deny that as bad as South's attitude was, and how harsh her words were, she was right. She shouldn't be here with them.

Everyone in the room was like she had said, a freeloader. None of them were 'boarders' with their name displayed for all to see, and they likely never would be. As much as Arizona hated admitting it to herself, South was out of their league. Something was up and she wanted to know what.

The doors slid open once more, and Arizona steeled herself in case there was another entrance like South's. She needn't have worried about that, but she was right about one thing.

Something was definitely up.

It was the Director.

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**A/N-** I know this wasn't an overly exciting chapter. It's main purpose was to introduce the main members of the cast before we get into the serious stuff.

Nonetheless I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I am open to any and all criticism that will help me improve. Feel free to be as harsh as you feel necessary, I won't improve unless people point out what I'm doing wrong.


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